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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25073665">Run Away With Me</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/demesh/pseuds/demesh'>demesh</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>All For The Game - Nora Sakavic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, M/M, Neil and Andrew spend the night in the backseat of the Maserati, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Panic Attacks, Post-Canon, Roadtrip Shenanigans, it's Neil's fourth year, mentions of Neil's past</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 02:55:32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>8,548</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25073665</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/demesh/pseuds/demesh</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Neil was running again - only this time, he was dragging Andrew along with him.</p>
<p>In which Neil and Andrew take a roadtrip with the intention of getting lost, and end up finding everything they've never meant to look for in the first place.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>192</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Lost</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He couldn’t breathe.</p>
<p>It came like a fist to his stomach, and just like that, he couldn’t remember how to breathe anymore. There was noise in his ears, a television drowned under the waves of the ocean, broken and hissing with a distant static noise. It consumed him; there was nothing except this faraway static, the waves roaring over his head, the darkness that flickered and stretched all around him the further down he sank.</p>
<p>He was actually drowning. <em>I’m going to die</em>, he thought, startlingly clear. He could hear someone whispering it in his ear. <em>Drowning,</em> they said. <em>You’re drowning, and you’re going to die, and you’re going to die</em>, and his vision was nodding along to the whispers, spotting black. The black spots looked a lot like flowers; expanding, petals sending tendrils in every direction, sizzling.</p>
<p>He choked, water gurgling in his throat. He felt his lungs seizing. <em>No, </em>he thought miserably. <em>No, no, no…</em></p>
<p>And then someone was touching him. His first instinct was to fight against it, but then something familiar filtered in through the waves, bursting in through the static.</p>
<p>“…starting striker for the Palmetto Foxes. You’re safe, your father’s dead—”</p>
<p>Neil flinched, and suddenly everything around him burst into blinding focus, and he could breathe again.</p>
<p>He gasped, clutching at the sensation of air flowing into his lungs. His chest burned in a pain that he was only now registering, his heart hammering out of his ribcage, blood pounding in his temples. His jaw was stiff and aching.</p>
<p>His fingers went numb, and he realized he’d been clutching his own hair, elbows leaning against his knees. He was sitting on a toilet lid. In a bathroom. And he was staring right at the white floor tiles.</p>
<p>He lifted his head to meet startling hazel eyes, looking right at him.</p>
<p>He could see the faintest hint of relief flickering through them, gone within a blink, and the touch that had dragged him back from the depths disappeared. Neil absentmindedly rubbed the back of his neck, belatedly realizing that was where Andrew had touched him.</p>
<p>Andrew was silent, but his eyes were alert, not letting him look away.</p>
<p>“Andrew,” Neil said. His voice cracked, all the spit gone from his mouth.</p>
<p>“Neil,” Andrew said back.</p>
<p>Neil sighed, closing his eyes.</p>
<p>“Don’t,” Andrew said, and he opened his eyes again.</p>
<p>“It happened,” he tried. “Again.”</p>
<p>“Third time in two weeks,” Andrew confirmed.</p>
<p>“Yeah, I know.”</p>
<p>Andrew only looked at him, but Neil could see the question he wasn’t verbalising. <em>What was going on?</em></p>
<p>Neil stifled the urge to look away, and felt himself straightening. “Let’s go.”</p>
<p>Andrew blinked.</p>
<p>“Let’s just go,” Neil said again. “I want to drive. I want to go.”</p>
<p>“Somewhere specific?”</p>
<p>“Somewhere I’ve never been,” he said. “Anywhere. I don’t care.”</p>
<p>Andrew just looked at him, an indiscernible expression on his face.</p>
<p>“Come on, Andrew,” Neil said. “Let’s go. Just for a few days. I want to get away from here.”</p>
<p>For a few beats, Andrew’s expression was frozen, thinking. And then it softened.</p>
<p>Half an hour later, Neil was shoving a duffel bag into the back seat of the Maserati before climbing into the driver seat.</p>
<p>They drove in silence for… a few hours, at least. When they’d left, it’d been early noon; now the sun was just about set. A few wisps of sunlight still escaped over the horizon, but it won’t be long before night fell and they would have to find a place to spend the night.</p>
<p>The problem was, Neil had no idea where they were. They were on a narrow, two-lane road that seemed to stretch on forever. The occasional cow looked at them with a judgmental chew of grass. There were no signs, no turns or junctions — even the cows were scarce, leaving the fields on both sides of the road practically empty.</p>
<p>“Andrew,” Neil said, maneuvering to avoid a pothole. From the corner of his eye, he saw Andrew lift his eyes up from the book he was reading to look at him. “I think we’re lost.”</p>
<p>Andrew glanced out the window. “It would seem so.”</p>
<p>Something in the car beeped, and Neil’s stomach plummeted. “And we’re almost out of gas.”</p>
<p>“You didn’t fill the tank?”</p>
<p>“Andrew, you were here the whole time. I think you would’ve noticed if I had.”</p>
<p>Andrew lifted his book in explanation.</p>
<p>“What are the chances there’s a gas station somewhere near here,” Neil sighed. He glanced at the flickering red dot, then at a stray cow who was standing too close to the road. “Because it’s either that, or we’re going to fill the tank with milk and hope for the best.”</p>
<p>“There’s one right ahead.”</p>
<p>“A cow?”</p>
<p>“Look at the road, dumbass,” Andrew said, and Neil immediately saw what he meant. A self-service gas station had practically materialized out of thin air not too far ahead, the first sign of civilization — save for the road itself — that Neil has seen in the past hour.</p>
<p>“There’s nobody here,” he said when he pulled over, exiting the car. Andrew climbed out as well, plucking what seemed like the last cigarette out of his pack. He stalked away while Neil filled the tank, and by the time Neil was done, Andrew came back, smoke clinging to his clothes and mixing into the scent of gasoline in the air.</p>
<p>“What kind of gas station doesn’t have a store,” he said, dumping the empty cigarette pack into a nearby overflowing trashcan.</p>
<p>“The kind that exists where even we don’t,” Neil replied. Andrew glanced at him, leaning against the top of the Maserati.</p>
<p>They stared at each other for a few moments, before Neil lifted his head to the sky. It was dark and starry, with the kind of dot density that only skies in the middle of nowhere could have. He used to see skies like that every once in a while, when he’d been on the run; from the window of a stolen car, or in the back of a truck, or walking along the road with his duffel bag on his back.</p>
<p>“Do you think there are any motels around?” he asked quietly.</p>
<p>“No,” said Andrew.</p>
<p>“I can’t believe we got lost,” Neil said, mirroring Andrew’s posture against the car next to him.</p>
<p>“Isn’t that what you wanted?”</p>
<p>“Yeah.”</p>
<p>“Yes or no?”</p>
<p>Neil looked to Andrew, and was almost surprised at the brightness of his eyes in the saggy light of the gas-station. Looking into these eyes, looking up at the sky, what was the difference? “Yes.”</p>
<p>And he was lost, drowning all over again — only this time, he didn’t want to come back up for air. Andrew pushed him against the car and kissed him with a ferocity that had Neil clawing for air, closing his eyes, getting lost in a nebula of stars. And he pushed back, just as hungry and desperate — and there was something desperate about this kiss, in a way he couldn’t quite understand. Maybe it was the fact there was no one in the world except for them, not here, not right now, and maybe there will never be again.</p>
<p>They had somehow made their way to the backseat of the car, Neil’s back against the window, pinned under Andrew’s touch. They had stopped kissing at some point, both breathless, but didn’t move; Neil was looking at the way the light from outside shadowed Andrew’s jaw, the way it made his hair look white. Almost like a halo, burning against his golden eyes.</p>
<p>“Staring,” Andrew said quietly.</p>
<p>“Yes or no?” was the just as quiet reply.</p>
<p>Andrew hummed, and Neil buried his fingers in his hair. It was soft; soft enough to calm the tides in his head, tug at the knot in his chest. That damn knot. The one that wouldn’t unravel, no matter what he did, no matter how safe he thought he was now. He recognised it from the same place he’d recognised the stars; a place he didn’t really want to come back to. A place he wasn’t at anymore. Wasn’t supposed to be at anymore.</p>
<p>“What’s got you thinking so hard,” Andrew asked, and Neil’s fingers halted.</p>
<p>“Nothing,” he replied, eyes flickering down.</p>
<p>“Are you running away again, rabbit?”</p>
<p>“Not from you,” Neil replied.</p>
<p>Something in Andrew’s eyes told him he wasn’t letting it go, but he fell quiet for now. They shifted in the backseat so that they were basically cuddling in the tiny space. Neil had pulled the duffle bag up from the floor to use as a cushion against the door, and between that and Andrew’s body heat, his eyes were starting to grow heavy.</p>
<p>“How late is it?” he mumbled.</p>
<p>“Don’t care,” said Andrew.</p>
<p>“‘Drew.”</p>
<p>“What.”</p>
<p>“I’m hungry.”</p>
<p>There was a pause.</p>
<p>“Well, you should’ve thought of that before we got here.”</p>
<p>Neil pouted. “Don’t you have any snacks in the car?”</p>
<p>“Maybe,” Andrew said. “But I’m not moving.”</p>
<p>“But I’m hungry.”</p>
<p>“Then go check yourself.”</p>
<p>Neil’s pout morphed into a scowl. “You’re basically on top of me. How am I supposed to move?”</p>
<p>“I’m sure you can think of something.”</p>
<p>Neil remained in defiant silence for all of ten seconds before he started squiggling his way free.</p>
<p>“You’re being ridiculous.”</p>
<p>“I’m refusing to die of hunger today,” Neil declared.</p>
<p>“And over-dramatic.”</p>
<p>At that exact moment, Neil tumbled to the floor with a yelp. Andrew peeked down at him, barely moving a muscle for it. “You alive?”</p>
<p>“Fuck off,” Neil grumbled. He sat up, and stretched over to the front of the car, outstretching his arm in an attempt to reach the glove compartment. He somehow managed to click it open.</p>
<p>“Is there anything there?”</p>
<p>“I think so.”</p>
<p>“You think so?”</p>
<p>“It’s dark, and it’s not like I have night vision. Wait — I think there’s a granola bar in here.” He reached again, standing up to the best of his ability under the low ceiling, and managed to grab what indeed seemed to be a granola bar. He pushed the glove compartment shut and its click echoed in the space of the car.</p>
<p>“It might be a couple years old,” he told Andrew. “You want half?”</p>
<p>Andrew hummed. “Come back here first.”</p>
<p>Neil complied. He climbed back onto the back seat, and they spent about five minutes shifting around — with Neil almost tumbling off the edge again, only to be clutched back by Andrew — to settle into a position resembling the original one. It wasn’t quite as comfortable, because life’s a bitch like that, but Neil took what he had. At least now he wouldn’t starve to death.</p>
<p>He tore the wrapping open and gave Andrew half of what was inside. They ate in silence, and Neil discarded the wrapping to the floor.</p>
<p>“You’re throwing it away tomorrow,” Andrew told him.</p>
<p>“It’s full of Nicky’s candy wraps anyway, ‘Drew.”</p>
<p>Andrew paused. “I’m going to kill him.”</p>
<p>“He’s been doing it since you bought the car.” Neil perked up. “How come you’ve never noticed?”</p>
<p>Neil felt more than saw Andrew’s faint shrug, and a lazy grin split his face. “You’ve never been back here, have you?”</p>
<p>“Shut up.”</p>
<p>Neil snickered. “You’ve literally never been back here. You’re a backseat virgin.”</p>
<p>“I hope you do realise how what you just said sounds.”</p>
<p>“I mean…”</p>
<p>Andrew’s eyes glued to him, and Neil’s grin widened at his expression. He almost looked like a puppy.</p>
<p>“Not tonight though,” he said, unable to stifle his yawn. “I’m just about asleep right now.”</p>
<p>“I hope you have terrible dreams,” Andrew said, without a hint of venom in his voice. Neil smiled and shifted slightly, just to get a little more comfortable.</p>
<p>“Yeah, yeah, you too, ‘Drew,” he mumbled, his voice barely audible.</p>
<p>And just like that, he was asleep.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Neil was running in an empty street. His shoes slammed against the concrete, eyes scouring the buildings towering over him in a frantic search for something. He was running from something, from someone — <em>wait, no</em>, he thought when his eye caught the glimpse of a figure disappearing into a turn up ahead. He was running <em>toward</em> someone.</p>
<p>That was a first.</p>
<p>He turned after the figure, and caught another glimpse of it as it disappeared into another turn. He followed, and it happened again, and again, and again, until he was starting to lose both his breath and the sensation in his legs. But he didn’t slow down; couldn’t. A millisecond slower and he would lose sight of him.</p>
<p>He turned again, and found himself running into a long, narrow street that had no more turns ahead of him. The figure stood in the middle of it, completely still, and looked at him with bright hazel eyes.</p>
<p>Finally. Neil sprinted toward him with the last remains of his energy, but just when he was about to reach him, he was pulled back.</p>
<p>He almost crashed backwards into the concrete, barely managing to grab hold of his balance. Looking behind him, he saw that there was a red string tied around his ankle, stretched behind him like a landmark to his footsteps; it wound around the corner he’d just emerged from. When he tried to step forward again, the string didn’t allow him, slicing into his skin.</p>
<p>Has it always been there? Neil crouched down to untie it from his ankle, almost flinching at how tight it held to his skin. He struggled against it, the string coming apart and tearing at his fingertips, breaking his fingernails in clean snaps that he barely registered. By the time the string fell to the ground, his fingers were raw and bloody, but he didn’t feel it.</p>
<p>He stood up and turned back to Andrew, only to see he wasn’t there anymore.</p>
<p>A tapping on the back of his head had him looking back, but there was no-one there either. More tapping had him turning his head in an abundant of directions, but there was no one in sight anywhere; no one except for him and nothing except the empty street, where even the buildings were beginning to lose shape of themselves. When he looked down, the string had disappeared. Has it ever even been there?</p>
<p>The tapping on the back of his head morphed into loud banging, and he snapped awake.</p>
<p>He was in the backseat of the Maserati. It was early morning already; the car’s interior was washed with the faint morning light cascading in from outside. Andrew was right there, awake as well and looking over Neil’s head, which was pressed to the car’s window. The banging he felt was vibrating through the glass from outside, and Neil wriggled his body to look out the window in search of its source.</p>
<p>An angry-looking man, who looked well into his fifties, was banging against the glass. Neil leaned away from the car’s door, Andrew shifting to allow him to sit up, and pressed the button to roll down the window.</p>
<p>“What do you want,” he snapped at the man.</p>
<p>“Move your car.”</p>
<p>“Huh?”</p>
<p>The man scowled distastefully. “You idiots parked your car right by the pumps.”</p>
<p>They had? Glancing over the man to look outside, Neil was startled to realized that yes, they’d forgotten to move the car after refilling the tank last night. The even starker realization was that they’d managed to spend the entire night here without anyone stopping by until morning. Just how far away from civilization were they?</p>
<p>“Hey,” snapped the man. “Didn’t you hear me? Move your car.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, yeah, give us a second,” Neil told him. The man sighed exasperatedly, crossed his arms across his chest, and stalked away. A glance through the Maserati's rear-windshield showed the man climbing into a dusty, rusty car that looked like it was about to fall apart with the faintest roar of the engine — which Neil could hear distantly grumbling to life.</p>
<p>Neil and Andrew scrambled to exit the car. Before Neil could reach for it, Andrew was already opening the driver’s side door.</p>
<p>“Hey,” he objected.</p>
<p>“We’ll never get out of this wasteland with you behind the wheel,” supplied Andrew, before climbing in and slamming the door shut. Neil rolled his eyes, but climbed into the passenger seat nevertheless.</p>
<p>Andrew drove ahead and out of the gas station, and before they knew it, they were already on the road.</p>
<p>About an hour into the drive, when the fields on both sides of the road were beginning to morph into forests, the car was filled with Andrew’s ringtone. One hand on the steering wheel and without looking away from the road, Andrew fished the phone out of his pocket and handed it to Neil, who answered it. “Hey, Nicky.”</p>
<p>“Oh thank God, you’re alive,” Nicky said. “Is Andrew with you?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, he’s right here.”</p>
<p>“Where the hell have you two been?” Nicky continued. “We’ve been calling both your cells since you up and vanished yesterday! What use is a phone if you don’t answer it?”</p>
<p>Neil belatedly realized they haven’t told anyone that they were going, and glanced at Andrew. “We went on the road.”</p>
<p>“<em>What?!”</em> Nicky shrieked. “Neil, we have a game today!”</p>
<p>Neil blanched. “We do?”</p>
<p>“Don’t tell me you forgot,” Nicky sounded dumbstruck. “Neil, it’s the last game of the season.”</p>
<p><em>Fuck,</em> Neil thought. How the hell could he have forgotten? He looked to Andrew, eyes wide, and lowered the phone. “Andrew, why didn’t you say something?”</p>
<p>“About?”</p>
<p>“The fucking game.”</p>
<p>Andrew hummed. “Forgot.”</p>
<p>“It’s your last college game!” Neil exclaimed. “Andrew, we have to go back.”</p>
<p>Andrew side-glanced at him. “Don’t you think it’s a little late for that?”</p>
<p>“You can’t miss the game,” Neil insisted, feeling panic surging up in his throat. How could he have gotten so careless as to <em>forget</em>? He has never once forgotten about a game. And this was maybe the most fucking important game of the season. “It—it’s your last game.”</p>
<p>“Neil?” he barely even heard Andrew’s voice, too lost in the erratic pattern that latched onto his breathing. How could he have forgotten? “Neil, breathe.” He heard Andrew swear, and suddenly everything surged forward, and Neil was slammed into his seat by the seatbelt. The car had stopped moving, and Andrew unbuckled his seatbelt and turned to Neil, leaning over the space between them to unbuckle his. A wisp of pressure was lifted off of his chest, but Neil was still struggling to breathe, staring at Andrew, trying to focus on him instead of the feeling of his chest caving in. “Neil, can you hear me?”</p>
<p>Neil nodded faintly, unable to make his mouth work. The ocean surged up in his ears.</p>
<p>“Neil, I’m going to touch you,” Andrew said, and Neil nodded again. And then a hand braced against the back of his neck, pulling him forward toward Andrew, gripping tight enough for him to register the touch. “Neil, listen to me. It’s just one game, and it’s not an important one. I already signed with a team, remember?” Neil nodded. “It’s not my last game, it’s not yours, so it’s nobody’s loss. It’s just a game. Breathe, Neil. You listening to me?” Neil nodded again, taking in a rattling breath. “Yeah, that’s right. Like that.” He took in another rattling breath, and another, and Andrew’s words slowly morphed into a soothing rhythm for him to breathe by. Neil didn’t know how long it took him to even out his breathing, but at some point the waves died down in his ears and Andrew’s eyes came into focus in his vision. Andrew looked him in the eyes, almost as if searching for something, and slowly let go of his grip on the back of Neil’s neck.</p>
<p>“It’s not,” Neil said quietly when Andrew leaned back, not taking his eyes off of him.</p>
<p>“Not what?”</p>
<p>“Just a game,” Neil said. “It’s not just a game. It’s my last game with you.”</p>
<p>Andrew fell silent for a moment. When he opened his mouth to answer, he was interrupted by Nicky’s frantic voice coming out of Andrew’s phone, which Neil realized he was still clutching. “Hello?? What the hell is going on? Can someone <em>please</em> tell me you’re both okay?”</p>
<p>“Nicky,” Andrew snapped, his voice cold enough to shut Nicky up. “I’m going to wring your neck when we’re back.”</p>
<p>“Nicky, it’s fine,” Neil cut in.</p>
<p>“As if I can believe you when you say that!” replied Nicky. “What the hell were you thinking, taking off like that without telling anyone? Do you have any idea how <em>worried</em> everyone’s been?”</p>
<p>“Nicky, <em>it’s fine</em>,” Neil said again. “We’re fine, it’s not like we got kidnapped.”</p>
<p>“You could have called to tell us that!”</p>
<p>“Nicky, drop it,” Andrew said, taking the phone from Neil. When Nicky started protesting, Andrew cut him off. “I won’t repeat myself. We won’t make it to tonight’s game. We’ll be back in a couple of days.”</p>
<p>“Are you fucking serious —“</p>
<p>“And don’t call again, or I’ll break your phone along with your face,” Andrew said, and hung up.</p>
<p>“Andrew,” Neil said.</p>
<p>“What,” he snapped. Neil fell quiet, and Andrew closed his eyes, opening them again after a couple of beats. “I saw a sign some miles back,” he said, briefly catching Neil’s gaze. “We might be able to grab something to eat soon.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, okay,” Neil said.</p>
<p>Andrew turned the engine back on, glanced at the side-mirror, and they drove on.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. & Found</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Half an hour later, they reached Salvation.</p>
<p>“Wait, you were serious?” Neil asked doubtfully. “The town is actually called Salvation?”</p>
<p>Andrew gestured with one hand at the massive sign imbedded in the ground by the road, saying, ‘Welcome to Salvation!”, while blending into the only traffic they’ve come across in a long, long while. Neil narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “Are they, like, religious?”</p>
<p>“Who knows,” Andrew said.</p>
<p>“It sounds like a town to be kidnapped and murdered in.”</p>
<p>“Maybe if you’re stupid,” Andrew said dryly. “Oh, wait.”</p>
<p>Neil scowled. “You promised food. I’m hungry.”</p>
<p>Andrew left the main road and parked the car a few minutes later in front of a small wooden establishment, and Neil’s already narrow eyes narrowed even further. “A waffle house?”</p>
<p>“Waffles are food,” Andrew said.</p>
<p>“I beg to differ—“</p>
<p>“Then beg.” Andrew turned off the engine, and the Maserati went still. He got out of the car, but didn’t close the door. “You coming, or am I locking you in here?”</p>
<p>“I don’t like waffles.”</p>
<p>“You can’t not like waffles,” Andrew said. “You’ve never had them.”</p>
<p>Neil made a face. “I did. We went to like four different waffles houses in the last four years.”</p>
<p>“And every time you ordered something that wasn’t a waffle.”</p>
<p>“I must’ve had waffles at least <em>once</em>.”</p>
<p>“You didn’t.”</p>
<p>Neil looked at him intently. “That can’t be. My dislike for waffles must’ve come from somewhere.”</p>
<p>“Yes, out of thin air,” Andrew said, “because you’ve never had waffles.”</p>
<p>“You’re sure?”</p>
<p>“Mm.”</p>
<p>Neil reluctantly climbed out of the car, and they walked into the waffle house.</p>
<p>The place was small. It was built more like a diner; booths lined the windows, and a few tables were scattered around the rest of the space. There was also a small bar. Neil immediately stalked to a table at the back; it stood inside a small alcove, almost hidden from sight. Still, a kind-looking waitress greeted them mere seconds after they sat down.</p>
<p>On top of a large cup of hot chocolate, Andrew ordered some kind of a sugar-waffle monstrosity that had Neil cringing just by its description. After some questioning regarding the waffles — mainly how sweet they were and whether they had any reasonable toppings that <em>weren’t</em> what Andrew was having — Neil decided to order plain waffles with blueberries, along with his black coffee. He liked blueberries, so if worst came to worst and the waffles were inedible, he could just eat the blueberries.</p>
<p>They waited in companionable silence, Neil absently fiddling with a napkin while leaning his chin against his hand. He couldn’t help it when his thoughts wandered to the game they were missing. He debated calling Wymach to inform him that he and Andrew won’t be playing today, but he had the feeling Wymach would figure out the whole ordeal on his own.</p>
<p>To take his mind off of the unpleasantries, Neil flicked his eyes up to Andrew. The earlier tension from the conversation with Nicky has sizzled out of him pretty quickly after he’d hanged up, and there was no trace of it in his figure now. He didn’t look relaxed, per se, since he was always alert when there were people other than Neil around him, but he didn’t seem too concerned either. Which did a little something to calm Neil’s own nerves.</p>
<p>“Staring,” Andrew said.</p>
<p>“You keep the ocean at bay,” Neil told him, and a minuscule crease appeared between Andrew’s eyebrows. Before he could say anything, though, the waitress arrived with their orders.</p>
<p>Andrew’s plate looked mind-numbing. If Neil had tried to eat everything that was on it, he probably would’ve gone into a sugar coma — and that’s not taking into account Andrew’s mug of hot chocolate, which was overflowing with whipped cream and chocolate syrup. Neil’s plate looked almost sorry in comparison — some brownish waffles with a bunch of blueberries stacked on top of them, sparingly sprinkled with broken pieces of pecans. His coffee was soothingly black and bitter, and burned the tip of his tongue.</p>
<p>Neil stabbed his fork into the waffle and watched as Andrew cut his own barely-visible waffle into small pieces, and shoved a sickeningly sweet-looking piece into his mouth with a completely straight face. When Andrew noticed his grimace, his eyebrows quirked.</p>
<p>“Eat your waffle,” Andrew told him.</p>
<p>“I don’t like waffles.”</p>
<p>“I thought we went over this.”</p>
<p>Neil looked down at his own waffle. It seemed somehow sad, as if it could sense his reluctance. It must suck, being this waffle; being so waffley, and yet untrusted, the worth of its only attribute questioned. How could it exist like this? Knowing it was never enough on its own, never would be? Because it had no worth without its toppings. Neil would gladly eat the blueberries without the waffles; but could the opposite be said, too? He wasn’t so sure.</p>
<p>“Neil.” Andrew’s careful tone had Neil looking back to him.</p>
<p>“I’m fine,” Neil said, and shoved a piece of waffle-and-blueberries into his mouth.</p>
<p>It was… not what he’d expected it to be. The waffle itself was crisp yet soft inside, and it practically melted on top of his tongue. Neil chewed thoughtfully. It wasn’t bad, not like he thought it would be; to tell the truth, he was thinking maybe he actually <em>liked</em> it.</p>
<p>He took another bite of the waffle, this time less reluctant, and then he found himself eating the entire thing, piece by piece, and enjoying it. It wasn’t overly sweet, save for what the blueberries contributed. It reminded him of the taste of butter.</p>
<p>Suddenly, he realized why he hadn’t wanted to eat this in the first place.</p>
<p>Andrew was taking his sweet, sweet time with his own waffle, tearing it into tiny pieces and taking the time to chew and swallow every single piece individually.</p>
<p>“My mom made me waffles once,” Neil said once Andrew was done, and Andrew lifted his eyes to him. Neil sipped his coffee. “When we were on the run. The motel we were staying in had one of those waffle toasters, so she got waffle butter from the store and made me waffles.”</p>
<p>Andrew remained silent as Neil talked on. “I don’t know why, but I couldn’t keep them down. Maybe the butter was bad. Or maybe the waffle toaster didn’t work properly.Anyway, like an hour later, I threw up in the lobby. Mom thought I was making a scene.” He bit his lip, nodding to himself. “When we were half the state away, she beat me senseless.” When he looked to Andrew, he saw the same quiet fury that’s always invaded his eyes when Neil had started speaking about his mother, spilling stories from his life on the run. “She didn’t make me waffles again after that.”</p>
<p>Andrew was quiet for another brief moment, before he spoke up.</p>
<p>“Cass used to make me waffles,” he said. “On Friday mornings. She got as many toppings as I wanted, and she let me eat as much as I could. One time I ate so much that I spent the rest of the weekend throwing up, but she still made waffles again the week after that.”</p>
<p>Neil smiled faintly, but the smile quickly dissipated, his eyes clouding with contemplation. “We should try making waffles some time.”</p>
<p>“We have a waffle-maker in the house in Columbia,” Andrew said, which meant, <em>we’ll make waffles once we’re done with school.</em></p>
<p>When the kind-looking waitress came to collect their plates and money, Neil asked her if she knew of anywhere around here where they could spend the night. Balancing plates, she told them of a small motel in town that might have space — it was a good distance away, but apparently worth it for the price. He thanked her, tipped her generously, and then they were gone.</p>
<p>Neil had taken over the driver seat before Andrew could even reach the car, and surprisingly, save for a brief pause in front of the passenger's side door, Andrew complied. Neil drove them out of the waffle house’s parking lot and into town, following the waitress’s directions. Very quickly, Neil has discovered one of two things: either that the waitress was very bad at giving directions, or that Neil was very bad at following them.</p>
<p>“We’re lost,” Neil said after some many minutes of driving around foreign streets, which all seemed vaguely familiar in the most useless way. “Again.”</p>
<p>“I’m shocked,” said Andrew. Neil side-glared at him as he breezed past a traffic light, which turned red a fraction of a second later. At this point, he wasn’t sure if his reckless driving habits have been picked up from Andrew or from his Mom; and to be honest, these days, the first person to pop into his head when he thought of hands clutching the wheel was Andrew. “The cow you wanted to milk yesterday is also shocked.”</p>
<p>Now Neil was scowling. He was about to throw back some kind of a snarky reply — the first that would come to his mind — when something around the corner of the street caught his eye.</p>
<p>He had already passed it, so he spent a few moments trying to find an empty parking spot before hitting the breaks and practically storming out of the Maserati.</p>
<p>“Neil,” Andrew called after him, locking the car. “Where are you going?”</p>
<p>“There was — it’ll be just a moment, I have to check if they’re alright.”</p>
<p>“If who’s alright?”</p>
<p>Neil turned around the very corner he’d missed just a minute earlier, Andrew on his heels, and stopped dead in his tracks.</p>
<p>He hadn’t imagined it, then.</p>
<p>He approached the cardboard box that was standing on the ground by one building’s wall, and crouched in front of it. Seven wide-eyed kittens looked up at him, and immediately started meowling in a chorus of high-pitched voices.</p>
<p>“Free for adoption,” Andrew read from the side of the box. “Five weeks old kittens.”</p>
<p>“Do you think they’re siblings?” Neil asked him, picking one kitten up from the box. It was ginger, with the most striking blue eyes he’s ever seen. Looking up to the still-standing Andrew, Neil saw that his gaze was transfixed on it.</p>
<p>“Probably,” Andrew said, before he crouched down beside Neil and peered into the box. “If they’re all the same age.”</p>
<p>Neil dropped to sit down on the ground. “They’re so small,” he said. “Why would anyone abandon them?”</p>
<p>“The owner of the mother probably didn’t want the trouble,” said Andrew. He picked up a black kitten with frizzy fur, who hissed at his first touch before starting to purr uncontrollably. Andrew looked it dead in the eye, and the kitten unabashedly looked back, still purring like a tractor. “Why are you purring. I’m not even petting you.”</p>
<p>“Maybe he’s touch-starved,” Neil said, eyes scouring the kittens in the box. “I think they all are, If no one has ever taken care of them.”</p>
<p>“Like you.”</p>
<p>Neil glanced at him. “You take care of me, though.”</p>
<p>Andrew’s whole figure paused for a moment, before he shot a glare at Neil. “I hate you.”</p>
<p>Neil grinned lazily, and dropped his eyes back to the kitten in his lap. “What are we going to do with them?”</p>
<p>“We’re not taking them.”</p>
<p>“Why not? We can’t just leave them here.”</p>
<p>“For one,” Andrew lifted the black kitten’s paw from where its claws latched onto his shirt, “there are seven of them.”</p>
<p>“We have space,” Neil said.</p>
<p>“We do not.”</p>
<p>“Andrew, come on. They can sleep with me.”</p>
<p>“And then have you come crying to me after you squish them to death? I’d pass.”</p>
<p>“They can sleep with Kevin, then.”</p>
<p>“Kevin’s allergic. And currently in a different state.”</p>
<p>“Andrew,” Neil pouted, looking at Andrew with big blue eyes that could rival those of the kitten he was holding. “Come on.”</p>
<p>“Do you need me to say it in a different language?” Andrew said, switching to Russian. “We’re not adopting seven kittens.”</p>
<p>“But they’re all alone in the world,” Neil replied, also in Russian. “Who’s going to take care of them?”</p>
<p>“You’re in college. How do you plan of taking care of them? You can barely take care of yourself.”</p>
<p>“That’s not true,” Neil said, and Andrew shot him a reproachful look. “Well, if not me, at least you can.”</p>
<p>“No, I can’t. Not right now.” Andrew put the kitten back down inside the box. “This year’s going to be hectic enough as it is. I don’t need seven cats on top of it.”</p>
<p>Neil sighed in defeat, and switched back to English. “Let’s at least take them to a shelter, then. I can’t just leave them outside.”</p>
<p>“As long as you don’t smuggle them back to Palmetto.”</p>
<p>Neil looked down at the kitten in his hands. “As if I would ever. Right, Barold?”</p>
<p>“You have no right to adopt a cat just because of that name,” Andrew said. “Put it back. We’re going back to the car.”</p>
<p>“What’s wrong with Barold?”</p>
<p>Andrew shot him a flat look.</p>
<p>After a brief roll of his eyes, Neil reluctantly put Barold back in the box and climbed to his feet. Andrew, on his part, picked up the entire cardboard box with all the kittens in it and began walking back the way they’d come from.</p>
<p>Only, when they came back to the car, they found something missing.</p>
<p>“Andrew,” Neil said, halting. “The car’s gone.”</p>
<p>Andrew paused in his tracks, lifted his eyes to the empty space where they’d left the Maserati just — what, five minutes ago? — and squinted. Then he slowly spun around himself, scouring his surroundings, while the kittens meowled in protest inside the box.</p>
<p>“<em>How</em> did they manage? We’ve been gone for three minutes!” Neil exclaimed, spinning around himself in much the same manner Andrew just had. “Even I can’t steal a car in three minutes!”</p>
<p>“Where the fuck is my car,” Andrew said, as if he didn’t hear Neil speaking at all. The glare he gave Neil would’ve seemed murderous if not for the kittens, who’ve somehow managed to peer their heads over the edge of the cardboard and join in to glaring at Neil. “I’m not willing to trade the car for a bunch of kittens.”</p>
<p>“Why are you looking at me like that? It’s not like the cats stole it,” said Neil, looking around him again. The street was completely, unquestionably vacant. He could hear crickets cricketing in the distance.</p>
<p>Andrew opened his mouth to answer, then closed it, and then opened it again. “We’re not leaving this town without the car.”</p>
<p>“Obviously,” said Neil. “Unless you want to hitchhike back to Palmetto, we kind of need it.”</p>
<p>“You would hitchhike over my dead body,” Andrew said. “We’re going to find the car, and then I’m killing anyone in this town who’s ever put a finger on it.”</p>
<p>“We need to find a shelter first.”</p>
<p>Andrew’s glare snapped to Neil so fast that Neil almost stumbled. “For the cats,” Neil clarified. “We can’t run around town with a box of kittens. That would be absurd.”</p>
<p>“Josten,” Andrew said.</p>
<p>“We’ll just drop them off at the nearest shelter, and then get down to business,” Neil continued. “We just need to find that nearest shelter first.”</p>
<p>“Sure, we could do that,” said Andrew. "We only have one problem.”</p>
<p>“What problem?”</p>
<p>“The fucking car is gone.”</p>
<p>“We don’t need it.”</p>
<p>“We don’t —“ Andrew cut himself off with a sigh. “Josten, where have your two braincells gone? Have you been here this whole conversation?”</p>
<p>“Matt gets them on weekends, but how is that relevant, like, at all?”</p>
<p>“We need to find the fucking car,” said Andrew. “You know, the black Maserati that you’ve paid for with your blood money, the car we used to get here?”</p>
<p>“Oh, that car,” Neil mocked. “Thought you were talking about the blue Toyota I rented on an alternative timeline. I know we need to get the car, ‘Drew, but we also need to take care of our kittens.”</p>
<p>“They’re not our kittens.”</p>
<p>“Temporarily they are,” replied Neil. “I mean, it’s a small town. The shelter is probably around the corner.”</p>
<p>“You know what? Fine,” Andrew spat. “We’ll take your stupid cats to the shelter. Every minute that we still haven’t found the car is another day you’re banned from driving it.”</p>
<p>“That’s going too far,” Neil said.</p>
<p>“I’m spiteful, deal with it.”</p>
<p>“Fine.”</p>
<p>“Fine.”</p>
<p>The kittens meowled.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p> </p>
<p>As it turned out, the shelter was not around the corner. Not this corner, not the next corner, nor the seventeen other corners they’ve come around thus far.</p>
<p>Neil was starting to think Salvation didn’t even have a shelter.</p>
<p>“How many days are we talking,” Neil asked when they turned another corner.</p>
<p>“Seventy one,” replied Andrew dryly. “No, seventy two.”</p>
<p>Neil sighed in desperation. “At this rate I’ll get to drive it in the grave.”</p>
<p>“So sad,” Andrew said. “Alexa —“</p>
<p>“Oh, there it is,” Neil said suddenly. They were standing in front of a rather small establishment squeezed between two buildings, on which the words <em>Animal Salvation Shelter </em>were written in letters too small for comfort<em>. </em>“Eighteenth time’s the charm, I guess.”</p>
<p>And at that exact moment, it started raining.</p>
<p>Neil and Andrew simultaneously lifted their heads to the sky. The kittens started crying heart-wrenchingly.</p>
<p>“I’m starting to think God has an agenda against us today,” Neil said as they ran across the street, kitten-tears intensifying beside him. “First we’re the victims of the Guinness world-record breakers of car theft, and now this.”</p>
<p>“If by God you mean seven cats and an idiot,” said Andrew.</p>
<p>“Are you blaming Barold and Co.?”</p>
<p>“If you define yourself as Co., then yes.”</p>
<p>“How is it my fault?”</p>
<p>Andrew narrowed his eyes at him. “I don’t know, Mr. ‘<em>we need to find the shelter before we look for the only car we have</em>’ Josten.”</p>
<p>Neil gave him a flat look as he pushed open the door to the shelter. “Think about the kittens. They would’ve been alone in the rain right now if we’d left them behind.”</p>
<p>“They don’t sound happy to me here,” said Andrew.</p>
<p>“Oh my!” exclaimed a girl from across the room, who Neil assumed worked there. Andrew and Neil both turned to her, and Neil was suddenly aware of how soaked they both were. He was dripping water all over the floor.</p>
<p>“We, uh, found them in the street,” he told her, gesturing his head toward the box. “We thought maybe we can leave them here, so they wouldn’t be alone out there.”</p>
<p>Andrew gave her a flat look. His hair was just as flat and also dripping wet, sticking to his forehead in what Neil thought was an almost adorable manner. He seemed completely indifferent to the band of meowling kittens he was holding, all of which haven’t yet stopped crying.</p>
<p>The girl approached them and looked into the box. “Oh my, poor little guys,” she said. “They must be terrified. Of course you can leave them here, they’ll find a home in no time.”</p>
<p>When Andrew gave her the box, Neil hesitated. “Are they going to be separated?”</p>
<p>“Oh, they’re siblings?” she asked. “It’s very unlikely someone would want to adopt them all. Getting a cat is a huge responsibility, and the more there are, the harder it is to take care of them.”</p>
<p>Neil glanced at Andrew, who looked back at him with clear meaning. Neil bit his lip, inclining his head. By the sound if it, the heavy rain outside dwindled down to a drizzle.</p>
<p>“We better go,” Neil said. “Thank you for taking them.”</p>
<p>The girl smiled at him brightly. “Thank you for bringing them here. Who knows what would’ve happened to them if you hadn’t.”</p>
<p>When Neil and Andrew left the shelter, Neil looked up to see a clear sky dimming with the setting sun. The clouds that have obscured it mere minutes ago were gone, as if they’ve never even been there; the grey was painted over with shades of orange and pink, melting into a darkening blue. The moon was its faint, evening self, not yet entirely in its domain and yet entirely alone, no dots to accompany its glow.</p>
<p>Neil looked down from the sky to see the Maserati parked across the street, next to the corner they’d turned on their way here. Startled, Neil looked around himself, eyes trying to catch the culprits, but was only met with hazel eyes looking right at him, just as confused.</p>
<p>They walked over to the Maserati, Neil heading for the driver side out of habit, only to be blocked by Andrew’s arm lightly pushing him back. “In eighty-three days.”</p>
<p>With a sigh, Neil let Andrew climb into the driver seat and walked around the hood of the car, pulling the passenger’s door open. “Do you remember the address of that motel?”</p>
<p>Andrew hummed, turning the engine on. Neil had only enough time to strap himself in before Andrew turned the car around, and the shelter’s front became an image on the side-mirror. Soon enough even that image faded, and as they broke into another street washed over with moonlight, it had already become nothing more than a fleeting memory — a tear of a place for a torn piece of a time, both of which were now gone, as if they’ve never been there at all.</p>
<p>They arrived at the motel at the last wisp of dusk, right before the world around them plunged into a starless, starkly familiar night.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Neil closed his eyes against the water, focusing on breathing in and out, lips silently moving to the mantra that’s been ingrained into his brain. <em>Neil Josten, number ten, starting striker for the Palmetto Foxes. You’re safe, your father’s dead. You’re safe, your father’s dead. You’re safe, father dead… Neil Josten, number ten, your father’s dead, father dead, father dead…</em></p>
<p>His eyes fluttered open, drops of water catching on his eyelashes and blurring his vision. He was looking at the shower curtain, a plain white piece of cloth that matched the bathroom’s tiles. It was soaked through.</p>
<p>Neil turned the water off and got out of the shower. Just when he had finished dressing, his phone woke up to life and started vibrating against the counter.</p>
<p>Neil looked at it for a moment, watching it skitter around the marble, and grabbed it before it tumbled into the sink. He answered without checking the caller ID.</p>
<p>“What the fuck do you think you’re doing,” Kevin spat into his ear.</p>
<p>Neil closed his eyes for a brief moment, before opening them and turning around to avoid his reflection, back leaning against the counter. “Hey, Kevin.”</p>
<p>“Don’t <em>hey, Kevin</em> me,” Kevin seethed. “You weren’t at the game. And neither was Andrew. I don’t get it, what is it? Do you two <em>want</em> to ruin your careers?”</p>
<p>“Kevin, calm down,” Neil said, biting into his lip. “It’s not a big deal. We forgot.”</p>
<p>“You <em>WHAT</em>?” Kevin exclaimed. “It was—“</p>
<p>“The last game of the season, I know. I told you, we forgot. We weren’t even in Palmetto.”</p>
<p>“Do you have a fucking death wish, Neil?” Kevin said. “Do you know that the Foxes lost the game? Huh? Were you even trying to keep track?”</p>
<p>Neil fell quiet. They’d lost?</p>
<p>“I don’t know what you think this is, Neil,” Kevin said, “but it’s not just a game. I’ve got my contract. Andrew’s got his. Yours is still hanging. And you might as well have just torn one of the strings holding you up tonight.”</p>
<p>“It’s fine, Kevin,” Neil said, feeling copper invading his mouth. “My stats are still good. I’ve still got next year.”</p>
<p>“Do you?” Kevin spat. “Do you really, Neil? What you did today was show instability. And you know better than me what the Moriyamas think of unstable assets.”</p>
<p>Neil hung up.</p>
<p>He stared at the white shower curtain, heart pounding in his temples and dragging his breath out ragged. His palm clutched the edge of the counter. He felt heat constricting the base of his throat.</p>
<p><em>Neil Josten,</em> he thought miserably. <em>Number ten, starting striker for the Palmetto Foxes</em>.</p>
<p>He walked out of the bathroom, leaving the phone on the counter. Andrew’s gaze trailed after him from where he was sitting on the bed as Neil crossed the room, fetching his running trainers from the duffle bag. Andrew stood up when he walked to the door and started putting them on, shaking hands tying the laces once, twice. And when he straightened, Andrew was standing right behind him.</p>
<p>“Where are you going.”</p>
<p>“I just need to clear my head.” Neil’s voice was surprisingly stable, and he was suddenly thrown back, way back, to a time when this wouldn’t have been surprising.</p>
<p>When Neil opened the door, a hand from behind him slammed it back shut, and suddenly Andrew was in front of him. “You told me you weren’t running.”</p>
<p>“I didn’t say that.”</p>
<p>“Not from me,” Andrew said, tilting his chin. “Where are you going, junkie?”</p>
<p>“Andrew, let me pass.”</p>
<p>“No.”</p>
<p>Neil looked into his eyes, and the fucking constellations looked back. “Let me pass.”</p>
<p>“Not until you tell me why you’re running away again.”</p>
<p>“I’m not running.”</p>
<p>Andrew’s eyebrows perked up. “Could’ve fooled me. Tell me, why are you lying again?”</p>
<p>“Andrew, I just need to clear my head,” Neil said, voice growing desperate. “Just let me pass. I promise I’m coming back.”</p>
<p>“I don’t believe you,” Andrew said, and all the blood left Neil’s face. “I know when you’re lying, Neil. You’re running. Across half the damn country you’ve been running. What are you running <em>from</em>?”</p>
<p>“Nothing,” Neil grit out, almost stepping back when Andrew came close. Their faces were close enough for him to feel Andrew’s exhale on the tip of his nose.</p>
<p>“You can’t fucking run from yourself,” he whispered, and Neil’s heart missed a beat. “No matter how fast you run, or how far you go, or how long it goes on,” he murmured, voice barely audible, “you can’t outrun yourself.”</p>
<p>“My past will always catch up,” Neil whispered back.</p>
<p>“Your past is behind you, junkie,” Andrew said. “It’s not coming back.”</p>
<p>Neil stepped away from him, back almost hitting a dresser, but he still couldn’t, for the life of him, look away. It was like looking at the sun — even though he could feel himself go blind, he couldn’t bear to avert his eyes. “It always comes back.”</p>
<p>“What’s going on, Neil?” Andrew stepped forward, and Neil stepped back. “You’re not going back there, you never will. So why are you acting as if you are?”</p>
<p>Andrew stepped forward again, and Neil stepped back again, and it was like a dance between the two of them, where every step was a needle stabbing into Neil’s chest. Finally, Neil’s legs hit the edge of the bed, and Andrew was nose to nose with him again.</p>
<p>“I’ll ask you again,” Andrew said. “Why are you doing this?”</p>
<p>“Because you’re leaving me,” Neil whispered.</p>
<p>Andrew’s frame went completely still. Neil saw something flash through the hazel of his irises, before it dissipated into a careful mask of blankness — one that he hasn’t seen in a long time.</p>
<p>“You’re leaving me,” Neil whispered again. “Behind.”</p>
<p>Andrew’s eyes looked over Neil’s features, holding still against the scars. “You’re never going back there.”</p>
<p>“But it’s just the same,” he replied. “When you go, I’ll finally drown.”</p>
<p>Andrew’s eyes caught his, and there he went searching again, looking for everything Neil could never give him. There was no stability in him. There was no guarantee. With the faintest blow of the wind, he could break. Get lost under the sea.</p>
<p>And looking into these eyes was just the same as looking up at the sky — wishing on a falling star, clawing at a fantasy. A land out of reach for the wandering. “I can’t do this alone.”</p>
<p>His voice broke. Just a little. But it made his eyes sting.</p>
<p>“I’m not leaving you,” Andrew said, the crease between his eyebrows releasing. “You are not alone in this. No matter how far I go, I’ll never leave you alone. You hear me, Neil?” Neil nodded faintly. “I’ll never leave you all alone.”</p>
<p>Neil looked at him, unable to make his mouth work. Feeling tired, suddenly, he let his knees unclench, and sat down on the bed behind him. Andrew crouched in front of him, not taking his eyes off of Neil’s.</p>
<p>“So you can stop running, junkie,” Andrew told him. “Even if just for today.”</p>
<p>“Okay,” Neil said.</p>
<p>“Yes or no?”</p>
<p>For the briefest moment, Neil hesitated. But then he saw those eyes again — the eyes that have pulled him up from under the sea, the eyes that made him remember how to live and to breathe. “Yes.”</p>
<p>Andrew leaned in and kissed him, softly. Neil closed his eyes and let it wash him away.</p>
<p>Finally, he thought, he was home again.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It was the next day’s morning, and Neil and Andrew were driving back to Palmetto, the radio turned on low on some kind of an indie rock song that Andrew seemed to recognize.</p>
<p>“We could adopt a cat when we move in together,” Andrew said suddenly.</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>“It might take a few years, but…” Andrew glanced at him, not really taking his eyes off the road. “When we move in together. We could adopt a cat.”</p>
<p>A smile made its way onto Neil’s face, and he leaned his head against the passenger window. “I would like that.”</p>
<p>Andrew glanced at him again, and Neil caught the sun setting against his irises. Apparently satisfied with what he found, Andrew looked back to the road, and turned the radio up. As the song filled the car and the air between them, Andrew accelerated, and they flew across the countryside and toward the edge of the horizon.</p>
<p>Yeah, Neil thought. He would like that a lot.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you so much for reading.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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